Chapter65 Epilogue April 1988

　　　“Hey, hey!” Lisa said to Tim from the passenger seat of his cab, half laughing. “Would you keep your damned eyes forward? And slow down! You drive very recklessly, indeed. You didn’t realize you almost hit a tricycle on the road shoulder, did you?”
　　　“Don’t worry, 'mama', because I’m no longer a bellboy at that hotel but a very experienced pro taxi driver now.”
　　　“If you say so, Tim, then, keep this in your memory: I’m not a mama any longer: I retired from the karaoke business last year. Besides, how can I see you’re very experienced in driving cars?” Lisa turned her eyes toward me sitting in the rear seat of the cab with Yuuzou Tomita-san and his wife Kazuko-san. “Trina, you should’ve cancelled your leasing contract with Tim and hired a better cab driver, before such a special day like today. ..So that Kazuko-san could comfortably enjoy this beautiful, rustic scenery here, especially since this is her first out-of-Manila outing.”
　　“Mama!” Tim pretended to be unhappy with her remarks. “Can’t you trust me, the number one cab driver in Manila?”
　　“You’re no number one driver in Manila, Tim.” Lisa slapped him on the shoulder. “So, drive very carefully, anyway. All right?”
　　　“All right.” Tim kept chuckling.
　　　Tomita-san was busy interpreting for his wife the conversation between Lisa and Tim in English.
　　　Kazuko-san’s face, too, was filled with a broad smile.
　　　Lisa told Kazuko-san. “Tim no unten dame desho (Tim drives very poorly, doesn’t he)?”
　　　Kazuko-san shook her head. “Totemo ojouzu desuyo (I think he drives very well).”
　　“Uh-oh.” Lisa shrugged her shoulders exaggeratedly, and told Tomita-san. “Don’t interpret that Japanese words for Tim, Tomita-san, to keep him from getting cocky and driving too carelessly.”
　　　“All right, Lisa.” Tomita-san smiled widely.
　　　Thank goodness, everybody looked very happy. ..As happy as I just was.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“By the way, Tomita-san,” when all the laughter came to a pause, Lisa said, “before we get at Trina’s house, let me express once again my deep thanks to you. If you hadn’t supported her in such a thoughtful way at that time, I believe, Trina wouldn’t have had a happy day like this, indeed. Thanks to your great effort to persuade her old boyfriend, or rather his mother actually, into paying Trina a kind of alimony including the expense of bringing up Yuki, she has become a woman who is able to own as many as five taxis for lease. And, I’m sure, she is very happy today, inviting all of us like this to her brand new house she has bought. Thank you very much, Tomita-san.”
　　　“Well, I’m not sure if I did enough for her.” Tomita-san was as humble as he had been.
　　　Tim said loud over his shoulders. “Mr. Tomita, you may have lost one of your old friends then. But, today, about four years later, you’ve got a lot of good friends here, in the Philippines. ..Right?”
　　　“Yes, Tim.” Tomita-san replied with another wide smile. “And these new friends of mine are really good people. Both I and Kazuko are very happy to attend today’s open house with you all, being invited by Trina. However, Tim, and Lisa, to be truthful to you, I wasn’t too good a mediator in the beginning, for he and I were very long time friends. Indeed, if I hadn’t been advised by Kazuko that strongly to do something for Trina... If Kazuko hadn’t told me that clearly what would be the right thing for me to do then, I wouldn’t have been able to persuade him to do anything.”
　　　Lisa was interpreting Tomita-san’s story spoken in English for Kazuko-san.
　　　Tomita-San went on. “Well, I and Kazuko knew very well that what Trina truly wanted him to do for Yuki-chan wasn’t to pay Trina alimony or anything like that, but...”
　　　Lisa responded. “Tomita-san, that money must’ve worked much better for Yuki than her father who feels he was forced to be her father, as a matter of fact. ..Why don’t we take it that way, Tomita-san?”
　　　“All right, Lisa.” Tomita-san replied.
　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Oh, look, Tomita-san!” Lisa was pointing her finger beyond the rice paddies at the left side of the road. “That’s the house Trina’s going to show you today.”
　　　“That house with white walls?”
　　　“Yes, ..whose roof is brown-tiled.”
　　　“What a beautiful house!” Tomita-san murmured, and smiled at his wife whose eyes were already twinkling delightfully.
　　　“Wow, Trina.” Lisa said. “Look at that! Yuki looks to be waiting for us, already on the roadside. Hey, Theresa came out, too. Oh, so beautifully dressed up, both of them. ..Watching them from behind are your parents and my husband, Ricardo. ..In front of the entrance door are Kristina and her husband Roberto talking with Manuel. Ah, Joseph is already there. ..Look, his actress wife, Aida, is with him. ..Breathtaking, isn’t it, Trina? All of your old friends... Yes, all of your old friends are there for you.”
　　　Lisa turned her face to me. Her eyes were filled with tears.
　　　“Yes.” I muttered.
　　　Gazing at my eyes, Lisa slowly extended her hand over the back rest toward me. I took her hand. ..Two of us were aware very well who and who in fact were missing there.
　　　“Look,” Tim raised his voice, “apparently, Yuki found us. Oh, ..began waving her hand toward us, now together with Theresa!"

Chapter64 December1984

　　　The taxi was caught in a mild traffic jam at the crossroads of Roxas Boulevard and Vito Cruz Street, perhaps because of a large gathering being held at Philippine International Convention Center.
　　　After a short silence, Kristina said. “Trina, whenever the taxi I’m on comes close to MIA... How should I describe it? ..I always become uneasy.”
　　　“Uneasy?”
　　　“Yes. ..Strange. ..Especially now when I know it’s not me who is going to leave for Japan from the airport.”
　　　“So, why?”
　　　“Well, in fact, I know why, Trina. And that happens to me because of the story I was told repeatedly by one of my grandmothers in Panay Island a long time ago, that is, before I started working as a karaoke singer in Manila.
　　　“This may be the kind of story spread all over the Philippines, or you, too, have heard of, at least once or twice. But this is a very special story for me beyond question.
　　　“And according to that grandmother of mine, in Panay Island where I was born and raised, Trina, the Japanese military that occupied the island did a lot of terrible things to the islanders. ..They killed the local people -young and old, men and women- and raped young women, only because they claimed there was a movement of, or even a slight hint of movement of, rebellion by the local people.
　　　“And the grandmother’s two older sisters, one older brother and one young niece, that is, one of my aunts, only five years old at that time, were among those who were killed by the Japanese military. The grandmother actually saw, ..was forced to see, her sisters, brother and niece being buried alive together with many totally innocent people. ..They were buried alive.
　　　“I recall the story every time my taxi comes close to the airport. Recalling it, I always become uneasy. You can guess, Trina, why that grandmother of mine stopped repeating the story to me after I began working as a karaoke singer, can’t you?”
　　　Without any word, I nodded to her.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“But today, I guess I feel a little differently, Trina.” Kristina continued. “Well, I still am uneasy, but it feels a little differently. ..And I guess that’s because of that incident.”
　　　“That incident?”
　　　“Trina, I’ve never told that story to any one of my Japanese patrons, either in Japan or in Manila. I just can’t tell such a story to my patrons who’re merrily enjoying their drinking and singing, or to the Japanese whose personal views of the Philippines and Filipinos were still unknown to me, can I?
　　　“But Takano-san was an exception. I told that story to him. ..And I’ll never forget his tears that filled his eyes while he was listening to the story.
　　　“Well, that happened a little before your return to Sakura, Trina. And I guess I just wanted him to understand me and my job by telling him such a story. ..Believing that he must be one of the persons who could fully understand me, just like you to whom I frankly confessed about my boyfriend Roberto.
　　　“However, it was way beyond my expectation that he filled his eyes with tears, so sympathetically. ..He looked so saddened He looked so hurt as if it were himself who had buried my aunt and others alive.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　I did not tell Kristina that Takano-san was such kind of person indeed.
　　　I did not tell her that, having been told Takano-san had been just as he was now, even before he had come across me, or even before he had found Melba, perhaps, I felt I understood now even better than any other time before why Takano-san had had to involve himself so deeply in the incident in Zapote, for instance.
　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　In Makati, several days before, Takano-san had calmly shown me his willingness to compensate Ruben and Alberto in place of 'them', by helping Alberto. And such my perception might have been right.
　　　However, Takano-san was a person who had expressed himself as a typical Japanese, who had been fighting, struggling, to turn such himself back to real himself.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　I kept my eyes closed silently.
　　　Kristina went on. “Having seen his tears, I added hurriedly, ‘But, Takano-san, that’s an ancient story, in fact. Wakai nihonjin kankei naiyo (Younger Japanese people have nothing to do with that).’ ..It was too late, Trina. With a very clouded face, he said, ‘You can say that younger Japanese people have nothing to do with what happened to your relatives about forty years ago, Kristina, only if no Japanese have done anything harmful to Philippine people since then. But...’
　　　“So, I dared to tell him, ‘I don’t care those happenings, Takano-san, as a matter of fact, as long as there are opportunities in Japan for me to work and earn such an amount of money that I can never make in the Philippines.’
　　　“And my words appeared to have saddened Takano-san even more. So, intending to change his dark mood, I introduced to him a related story that was widely believed among old people in Panay. ‘The grandmother of mine told me this, too, Takano-san: Those who were truly cruel, who directly did all those terrible things to local Filipinos were Koreans in fact, not Japanese soldiers.’
　　　“The added, new story, too, worked negatively, Trina. The tears in Takano-san’s eyes finally began dropping on his cheeks. He said, ‘If there were Koreans there, Kristina, they were the people who had been forced by Japanese military to leave their motherland and to assist Japanese military operation. I believe that they had no freedom to act, much less to rape and kill local people, on their own wills. So, if indeed Koreans directly brutalized local Filipinos, I can tell you, Kristina, they were ordered by Japanese military to do so. At that time, such order by Japanese military must’ve been so absolute that those Koreans could do nothing but obey it. Those Koreans would’ve been executed by Japanese military if they hadn’t obeyed its orders.’
　　　“I think, Trina, Takano-san’s tears at that moment have changed something in me.”
　　　Kristina abruptly fell into deep silent.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　I opened my eyes. Our cab just had passed by Baclaran Church.
　　　“You’re karaoke singers, right, girls?” The driver spoke to us. The radio music had been turned off.
　　　“Yes, we are.” Kristina replied. “Can you tell?”
　　　“Sure, I can. ..Both of you are so beautiful, so well made up, wear different clothes from ordinary girls. Besides, you’re heading to the airport with such large bags. ..Going to Japan, both of you?”
　　　It was Kristina again who answered. “She is, but I’m not.”
　　　Adjusting his rearview mirror to me, the driver said, with peculiar laughter being mixed in his voice. “Then, you better live in Japan a little more carefully than usual, for some crazy Japanese might attack you. ..Out of revenge.”
　　　“Hey, would you knock it off?” Kristina demanded to the driver sharply. “Don’t cast such a bad spell to the person who is going to fly to the country in a few hours, praying that only good things may happen to her there.”
　　　“I’m sorry.” The driver apologized, at least superficially. “Of course, I had no intention to cast any bad spell to anyone.”
　　　“If you had said that with ill intention, I wouldn’t have forgiven you.” Kristina responded. “But what did you mean by out of revenge?”
　　　“Well, radio news has been telling us for the last couple of hours that one presumed Japanese man had been shot to death in Makati last night. ..Seemingly, both of you haven’t heard the news, have you?”
　　　Kristina said. “We haven’t. But I wonder what connection the murder has with that revenge thing.”
　　　“So, that was my bad joke. I’m sorry. ..However, it was reported that the Japanese man had been killed in front of a karaoke saloon in Makati, named Palace. And the guy who had killed the Japanese was a security guard of the saloon. So, I just figured that it might keep two of you and me from getting bored on the way to the airport if I brought up a silly story, like, that one of relatives of the killed man might attack a Philippine karaoke girl or two in Japan to take revenge for the man’s death, bearing a grudge against all Filipinos who work in karaoke business. ..A while ago, you guys suddenly fell in deep silence. So, I just volunteered...”
　　　“Indeed, that was a silly joke. Besides, we weren’t bored at all.” Kristina retorted, and turned her face to me. “No matter what, that’s a big news, isn’t it, Trina?”
　　　My eyes were suspended in the air. The name of Makati was sounding to me tremendously bad omen.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Do you happen to be,” the diver adjusted the rearview mirror, this time, to Kristina, “singers at the Palace, girls?”
　　　“No, we are not, “ answered Kristina, “but such kind of news, I think, isn’t totally for others because the killed man may’ve been our customer, too. By the way, you said the man was presumed to be a Japanese. And is that all you know about him?”
　　　“Well, radio news has been telling us only, like, ‘Considering the circumstances, the police assumed, the man killed must be a Japanese.’ The report said the man had possessed nothing with him, from which he could be identified.”
　　　“Any argument or something between the killed man and the Palace?” Kristina asked.
　　　“I guess that’s not the case. The story reporters have been telling, along with some interviews with people who had been at the scene, was like this, in short:
　　　“It was near twelve o’clock midnight, last night, that a Japanese patron came out of the Palace: And when he was about to climb into the rear seat of his car waiting for him across the street, a little away from the karaoke saloon, a man who appeared to be a Filipino emerged from nowhere and abruptly began yelling at the patron in English: One security guard of the Palace, though he wasn’t clearly aware what was happening in the dimness in front of him, pulled his gun anyway out of the holster in case he should use it to protect Palace’s patron, and tried to find what the emerged man was actually doing against the Japanese man: The emerged man, still yelling, grabbed the patron by the arm and pulled the patron, whose upper body was already in the car, out of his car: Having sensed of his patron’s crisis, the security guard pointed his gun at the emerged man, and ordered him, ‘Freeze!’: The man turned to the guard and told him in Tagalog, ‘All I want here is to talk with this Japanese man,’ as if he were begging the guard for a great favor, literally, according to one of the reporters.”
　　　“Hey, Trina!” Kristina almost cried. “You’re hurting me!”
　　　I had not realized that I had been taking hold of her hand so tightly.
　　　Loosening my grip, I murmured. “I’m so sorry, Kristina.”
　　　“That’s okay, Trina. But, is anything bothering you?”
　　　I lied. “No, nothing...”
　　　“Yeah?” And then Kristina returned her face to the driver.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　The driver continued. “Being virtually begged by the man, the guard presumed that the Tagalog-fluent Filipino might not have approached the Japanese patron to rob him or anything like that: The two people kept arguing in English, however: The security guard had to think hard how to respond to their argument: And it was then that the chauffer of the patron’s car, who seemingly had been watching all the movement of the two men and the guard from inside the car, opened the door at the other side of the incident and finally came out of the car: The Filipino told the chauffer in Tagalog the same thing, ‘All I want here is to talk with this Japanese man’: Although he appeared hesitant momentarily, the chauffer started stepping carefully toward the two men arguing: Having gotten panicky, perhaps, by the movement of the chauffer, the Filipino all of sudden grasped the collar of the patron’s baron Tagalog with his hands and began swaying the patron’s body, once again yelling something loud: The security guard walked a few steps closer to the now-struggling two men, and shouted again to the emerged Filipino, ‘Freeze!’
　　　“And it was at that moment that another man rushed out in silence from the darkness across the street, and ran toward the two men now almost tussling: The guard intuited that the second man was an associate of the Filipino: The guard had to judge that the second man was joining the Filipino to assault the Japanese man, whatever reason they had: The patron shouted something in Japanese: Now the guard had to point the muzzle of his gun toward the second man: And he repeated the same word, ‘Freeze!’: The second man didn’t stop: Instead, he kept approaching the spot where the Filipino and the Japanese patron were almost brawling now: The guard didn’t have a time to be hesitant: He pulled the trigger: Though the first shot missed the target, the second one appeared to have hit one of the man’s legs: The second man stumbled almost in the air: The guard pulled the trigger for the third time: The bullet apparently hit the man’s chest: So, having made sure the man was falling down onto the ground, the guard returned his eye toward the two who had been brawling: But the Filipino was already gone into the darkness around: Lying on the surface of the ground was the second man shot by the guard, badly bleeding.
　　　“It was reported..: Both the attacked Japanese and the security guard couldn’t identify the killed man: The chauffer and the Palace’s employees had never seen the killed man before: Nobody saw the face of the escaped Filipino clearly: The Japanese patron claimed he had had no time to see the Filipino’s face, being busy to avoid the Filipino’s violence, while the guard said he had been a little too far away from the two men struggling: And all the chauffer saw was the back of the Filipino:
　　　“The Japanese patron answered police’s question that he had completely no idea why he had been attacked in such a manner, as well as that he wasn’t very fluent in English, and the Filipino had had a strong accent, so, he hadn’t been able to get what the Filipino had been telling him: Meanwhile, the security guard, who had heard most of what had been exchanged between the Patron and the Filipino, was reported to have been unable to catch the content of the exchanged words because he wasn’t too good in English: The chauffer? He maintained that he had been so confused that he only remembered he had told himself he had had to protect his employer, the Japanese patron. But except that, the chauffer had no memory at all on what on earth had actually happened.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Has the name of the patron ever been mentioned?” Kristina asked the driver, and then she whispered to me. “It’s too bad if the patron is Sakura’s customer, too, isn’t it?”
　　　My body was trembling.
　　　I was feeling I could guess who the attacked patron was, who the escaped Filipino was. I might have known already who the man, shot to death, lying on the ground in Makati, smeared with blood, was.
　　　The cab driver responded to Kristina. “Yes. I think news reporters told us the name of the patron. But I can’t recall it right now. ..Keep your ear to the radio news and you’ll know it sooner or later.” He glanced at his watch. “The next news will be in about fifteen minutes. Well, I remember the patron was said to be an employee of a Japanese trading company in Makati, whose name was... I can’t recall the name, too.”
　　　My body was still trembling, slightly.
　　　“Hey, try hard to recall it.” Kristina demanded to the driver.
　　　“It sounded like a Tagalog word, I believe. ..Oh, yes, it’s like may (have, possess). ..Yeah, it was Meiwa, probably.”
　　　“Meiwa?” Kristina mumbled, and turned her face to me. “I don’t think we have a customer who works for a company whose name sounds like that. Do we, Trina? ..Wait a second. ..No, that can’t be. But, ...could be a coincidence. Trina, isn’t it Meiwa Trading? The company Takano-san said he had once worked for?”
　　　With no word, I nodded to her.
　　　“But, Trina, Takano-san shouldn’t have any connection to such incident, should he?” Kristina returned her eyes forward, and said, forcing a smile. “He quit that company many, many months ago, when he was still in Japan. So, the attacked patron of the Palace could be an acquaintance or even a friend of his, but should never be himself, of course? ..Gee, my heart is still beating fast. I got confused momentarily, when I didn’t have to, Trina. My heart was about to explode, suspecting the attacked man could’ve been Takano-san. ..How silly! ..But, Trina, if the killed man was a Japanese, who on earth was he?”
　　　I kept my eyes straight toward the direction the cab was heading for.
　　　There seen very closely already was the building of Manila International Airport.

Chapter63 December1984

Not too many minutes had passed since the taxi I had taken with Kristina in front of Sakura had started for Manila International Airport.
　　　“As for your departure to Japan, Trina,” Kristina whispered near my ear, perhaps, to keep the taxi driver from hearing what we were going to talk, although the driver appeared to be inclining all his ear to the loud music coming out of his car radio, “I still believe that you should’ve informed Takano-san of your departure to Japan by some means or other. You feel kind of sabishii (lonesome) without him here, don’t you?”
　　　“No, I don’t, Kristina.” I replied, reminding myself that Melba had departed for her extremely solitary, long, difficult trip all by herself. “I’m happy enough having you here kindly accompanying me to the airport.”
　　　“Are you sure?”
　　　“Yes, I am. And if I don’t look like very happy, Kristina, that’s because I’m a little too excited, I guess. For this is my first job in Japan after two years of long break. ..Too many things are on my mind right now.”
　　　“It’s too late, I know,” Kristina said, ignoring my response, “and Takano-san himself chose not to come to Sakura for so many days. But, no doubt, he’ll be surprised, disappointed, at the news that you’ve already gone to Japan. He’ll miss you badly, Trina. ..Especially since it’s not too long ago that Melba suddenly left for Japan.”
　　　“I don’t think he’ll get surprised that much, Kristina.” I declared, believing that he must have sensed my departure, too, would come soon when he had found me behaving unusually merrily during our Makati date several days earlier.
　　　“I doubt it, Trina.”
　　　“Takano-San knows how abruptly our dates of departure to Japan can be decided, ever since Lisa left for Matsue, Melba for Fukuoka.”
　　　“Nevertheless, I’m sure, he’ll feel he has been let down.”
　　　“He understood very well, Kristina, that all the girls at Manila’s karaoke saloons work there to got to Japan sooner or later, and that I wasn’t any exception.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　The taxi was heading toward south on Roxas Boulevard.
　　　It was when the cab was happening to pass by the restaurant Aristocrat that Kristina asked me, “So, I guess, even now, you’re not going to tell Takano-san where in Japan and at what omise you’re working, either, right?”
　　　“That’s right, Kristina.” I answered, recalling Melba’s totally perplexed look shown to me at the bus stop on Taft Avenue. “So, please, keep pretending that you, too, are not yet told anything about such things. ..I’m sorry that I’ve given you a very difficult task.”
　　　“To tell a lie or two like that is not so difficult for me, Trina, because, as a karaoke hostess, I’ve made it sort of my habit to protect myself, but... Why? Well, no, I’m not asking these kinds of questions only to annoy you. Instead... All the people who work at Sakura have realized at some point that Takano-san was in love with you. ..He may not have sung even a song with you. And when he was with you alone, he may not have laughed as much as he did with mama Lisa. But, believe me, he looked so happy whenever he was with you.”
　　　Just looking forward, I smiled an ambiguous smile.
　　　Kristina went on. “And, you may not have realized this, but you looked very affectionate, much more than any other time, whenever you were at Takano-san’s table. ..Everybody at Sakura believed that you were in love with him, too.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　Beyond lines of palm trees along the boulevard, there seen was Manila Yacht Club, outside of whose breakwater a few small boats were sailing tranquilly.
　　　“To be honest, Kristina, I was able to be unusually gentle-hearted whenever I was with him, as you observed. ..I don’t know why. But that’s all. Nothing more than that.
　　　“I knew very well, Kristina, that he was a person who was going to, had to, settle in a place where he would need no woman like Melba or me. Besides, I believe, he himself was aware well that he was seeing in me what he wanted to see, instead of real myself. For him, this country may have been, well, a fantasy island in his dream, at the beginning. And Melba and I may have been his princesses. However, Kristina, I know he has come to realize that Melba and I looked to him his princesses because he was on a fantasy island.
　　　“For Takano-san, I think, Melba and I were just like your ‘very wealthy entrepreneur’s son who drives a red Mercedes-Benz convertible’ or ‘famous rock guitarist’. And, I guess, those Japanese may have given you, Kristina, a few nights of good dreams on your own fantasy island -Japan. But were they anything more than that?
　　　“Having Melba and me near him, Takano-san, too, may have had good dreams which gave him some happy times. But that’s all, after all. Kristina, the fairy tale he has been experiencing in this country is on the verge of its ultimate end. And although it may not bring him a happy end, Takano-san will wake up soundly from the dreams and go back to his own real world. ..Which, I assume, is either in Japan or in California.
　　　“I believe, Kristina, that he doesn’t need to know where in Japan I work. ..Where in Japan Melba lives, too. He must live in a place where he doesn’t need any princesses of fantasy.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Trina, you’re married, aren’t you?” Kristina muttered.
　　　Although I had not anticipated such a question at all, I managed to answer her with composure. “Yes.”
　　　“But, I guess, Trina, that’s not a happy marriage, is it?”
　　　“No, that’s not.” I was very frank.
　　　“Have children?”
　　　“Two daughters. They are with my parents in Bulacan Province.”
　　　I might have told Kristina without hesitation about two different fathers of my two daughters if I had been asked about them.
　　　Kristina said. “There are various kinds of lives in this world, aren’t there?”
　　　“Yes, indeed.”
　　　“Look, Trina.” Having lifted her back from the backrest of the cab, Kristina told me, looking into my eyes. “Answer me honestly. Has Takano-san never looked to you like your 'prince'?”
　　　Instantly, the faces of both Akira and Cesar flashed across my mind, both of which once had looked to me very gentle and intelligent. I answered. “No. He has never looked that way to me.”
　　　“Never looked being a prince who came here unexpectedly from a northern island, being destined to encounter you, to make you happier?”
　　　“No, never.”
　　　“Have you never dreamed such a dream?”
　　　“Well, Kristina, if he had come to Manila a few years ago, I might’ve dreamed... But now, I’m already a woman who knows she can’t live her life by simply chasing her own dreams.”
　　　“Hmm...” Kristina returned her back to the backrest. “Now I know, Trina, you, too, are one of those girls who have had to go through lots of hardships in their lives.”

Chapter62 November1984

　　　“While Al was drinking his orange juice, Trina,” Takano-san calmly continued with his story, “I was distantly looking at the Manila Bay, at the off shore of which several freighters were anchored extremely peacefully. ..Wondering, ‘What the heck are those people, I mean, Toukai’s vice president and Kodama-san? ..Those Japanese?’ Seemingly, Trina, they had no regret on their illegal operation in Zapote, no pricks of conscience for Ruben’s injuries they had caused, no guilty feeling for their intention to have Al -a Filipino- assaulted.
　　　“Al returned to his story: Castillo prayed that his boss Martinez might not force on him the role of finding a gang of scoundrels or something in some skid row in Manila: Castillo knew very well that he lacked such capability as to negotiate with scoundrels or something on such a matter, or lacked such wild boldness as to have them attack somebody: Besides, he even hated such a forceful reaction to Al’s move, to begin with:
　　　“Fortunately to Castillo, this time, Martinez himself worked very aggressively: The manager of the warehouse made several phone calls to various places to get the information he needed, and eventually went out to see the scoundrels or something all by himself: As if he were trying to compensate his own prior critical failure at the warehouse:
　　　“While things were moving that way, Castillo still hoped that Martinez’s attempt should falter or that the attack on Al should never be materialized: He prayed that Navarro Metals might not go into such a dirty action, conveniently taking advantage of the suggestion made by the Toukai, and Kodama-san whom the Japanese metal recycling company in effect had introduced to Navarro:
　　　“Despite Castillo’s prayer, Al was assaulted: ..Martinez ordered Castillo to closely watch if Al had received the warehouse’s message correctly.
　　　“Castillo didn’t move, however: He ignored Martinez’s order: And that’s the background reason why Al called me up, even one day after he had told me we’d better not move soon, to tell that nobody seemed to have been tailing or watching him any longer:
　　　“To Castillo’s eye, all the people who were involved in this incident looked deviant: Self-protection, evasion of responsibility, selfishness, self-importance..: He was weary of such development of the incident: He was exhausted. ..It was such Castillo that Al visited without notice in advance.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Al told me, ‘Castillo, who had described himself as if he were the only man of conscience, except for Mr. Chavez of the Navarro Trading, accepted that money after all. Well, Hiroshi, I knew, that money was to be spent that way from the beginning, and I pulled out information worthy of the money, or even better than that. So I have no complaint about that. But, Hiroshi… Ruben became a prey of their.., what should I call it? Mean greed? Ambition? Corrupt minds? Whatever…’ Al went on, ‘Some people may want to extort reparation or whatever like that from you even by intentionally throwing their children into the ponds at somebody’s backyard? What the hell kind of human being can make such an outrageous comment?’
　　　“I was unable to respond to Al, Trina. ..Being caught once again by the thought what if I and Yoshida had rejected the Toukai’s request three years earlier, or what if we hadn’t given our help to them. Well, Trina, to be honest, I’ve entertained once or twice a thought that I might be allowed to take the matter this way: We might’ve been unable anyway to avoid Ruben’s burn, or such ugly development of the incident, from happening, because it was completely against Meiwa’s corporate custom to ignore or to handle very coldly the people who came to you with a letter of instruction or recommendation written by a person within the company: Besides, it also was impossible to predict how the Toukai would want to materialize its plan. However, Trina, I’ve already come to know that the Meiwa, and Kodama-san, had gotten involved in this matter to such deep an extent. And I’m a man who once worked for the company...”
　　　“Takano-san,” I said, almost whispering, perhaps, “I don’t think you need to compensate anything for what the man named Kodama-san has done.”
　　　 Except for a slight smile at an edge of his lips, he reacted nothing to my words.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　A while later, Takano-san resumed. “Al told me, ‘Well, Hiroshi, I still believe that the Navarro Metals had to make up for Ruben’s burn. Even if the company’s operation turns out to have been all legal, it still is obvious that the company has failed to pay enough attention to prevent the accident. Let alone, if its operation turns out illegal, my nephew should maintain his right to demand the company to pay for his medical fees. Plus, since Ruben might have to live all his life very limitedly with the aftereffect of the burn, I think, he has to demand reparation from the company for that, too. But, Hiroshi, I’m not an extortionist, much less a person who wants to take advantage of his nephew’s injuries to make some personal monetary gain. As a matter of fact, all I wanted at the beginning was to know what the hell had caused Ruben such a severe burn. ..Or to ask the warehouse to eliminate the cause of the burn to prevent recurrence of such an accident if indeed my nephew had gotten burnt in its premises. It was beyond my imagination that my request to see someone at the warehouse was denied by some panicky person. ..Now that I’ve learned from Castillo all what has actually happened, Hiroshi, I have to think they are totally different kinds of people from 'us'. They are people who live in a different world from 'ours'. That’s why they can express such outrageous opinions, ..can have me attacked.’
　　　“Trina, being very uncomfortable, I had to wonder if the word 'us' Al had used included me. ..Because I knew that I was a person who had lived in 'their' world until not so long before, or who still lived in it.”
　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　I may have had to respond to Takano-san right way, like, ‘The world you live in is totally different from theirs, of course.’ Responding so, I may have had to make one more effort to ease his sense of guilt.
　　　But I did not say anything. ..I could not, because I was unexpectedly caught up in my own suspicion: ‘Can I simply accept all the story Al told Takano-san as the absolute truth?’
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　Well, apparently, Al had completed his buy-off plan just as he had agreed with Takano-san, and had obtained information he had needed, or even more. Seemingly, Al had had no evil intention to defraud Takano-san of his money, just like Eva had had no plan, perhaps, to cheat the Japanese button manufacture -Mr. Kobayashi. ..The chilly fear that had come to my mind a while before may already have turned out to have been totally unfounded.
　　　I may have had to be relieved that the money Takano-san had handed to Al had brought no heartbreaking consequences to him thus far.
　　　Nonetheless...
　　　I was caught in a new restlessness.
　　　In Al’s story, or the story Al had been told by Castillo, there were business people who could be divided into three distinct types, too conveniently perhaps, as if the story were a screenplay or something: ..Villains, forced-half-villains and a good man.
　　　Villains were Toukai’s vice president and Kodama-san of Meiwa’s Makati office who had in-effect chosen the use of force to stop Al’s persistent action. Forced-half-villains were Mr. Navarro and his follower Martinez who had dared to accept Toukai’s unethical way of business operation although they had hated it initially. And a good man was Castillo who had had no choice but to obey Navarro Metals’ order despite his will and conscience.
　　　Contrast was very evident. ..And the person conveyed the story with such a structure to Takano-san had been Alberto, a man of justice.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　I pondered:
　　　If it was Castillo who had distorted the truth, it could be explained, he might have intended to redirect Alberto’s anger to the Toukai Metal Recycling and the Meiwa Trading -Japanese companies- from the Navarro Metals and the Navarro Trading -Philippine companies: ..If Alberto accepted Castillo’s story as it had been told, the farm foreman might understand what a difficult situation the Navarro group had been in, and might not report to the authorities of the accident Ruben had encountered, as well as of the illegal operation in the warehouse, considering the magnitude of the damage those Philippine companies might possibly go through after his report: Alberto might try to directly talk with those two Japanese companies, instead, no matter what his objectives were: And if the thing turned that way, Castillo, who had craftily avoided possible harms from striking the Navarro group, had to be described as a very experienced, cunning Makati businessman who had accepted the buy-off money and still was able to be a very loyal employee of the group: ..Which was way different from what Alberto had felt about the man -an owner of a small hardware store in Zapote:
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　I was once again confused in my perception of the man named Alberto.
　　　Takano-san was not suspicious at all of what he had been told by Alberto. ..Just as he had believed all he had heard from the two Filipinos -Gabriel Guzman and Mariano Nolasco- about the shell button business between a Japanese entrepreneur –Kobayashi- and a well-motivated Filipina -Eva Nolasco.
　　　Well, I was not necessarily very suspicious yet that Eva’s shell purchasing system might have been a trap to defraud Mr. Kobayashi of his money as the Japanese himself had allegedly believed. I was not convinced, either, that Alberto must have created a very convenient story for him to slyly use Takano-san in his own favor.
　　　Nevertheless, a few questions stubbornly remained in my mind: ‘Were those Japanese who had appeared in Takano-san’s two stories -Mr. Kobayashi, Toukai’s vice president and Meiwa’s Mr. Kodama- really as malicious as they had been portrayed?’ ‘Was the shell purchasing system Eva had reportedly prepared for Mr. Kobayashi indeed well enough set, or worthy of additional investment by the Japanese shell button manufacturer? ..To anybody’s unbiased eye? ..Just as Gabriel and Mariano believed it was?’ ‘Was it really Mr. Kodama who said virtually that someone might throw his or her child into an acid-contaminated pond to obtain reparation for the child’s suffering? ..Not Mr. Navarro himself?’ ‘Did Alberto actually hand all the buy-off money to Castillo?’
　　　I had no answers to any of such questions. There was no way for me to find correct answers.
　　　All I knew, instead, was that Takano-san had never had, would never have, such questions.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　Takano-san said. “Trina, Al’s story was close to its end. So, I asked him what e was going to do from then on. He answered me like this: ‘Before anything else, I want them to apologize to my nephew Ruben from the bottom of their collective heart. ..By all means. I believe that Ruben must not remain to be a silent prey of their business ambition and greed. And as for myself, since they called me an extortionist, I no longer can live in peace without correcting them. With Ruben, I’m going to teach them how the real integrity of human beings looks like. ..In some form or other.’
　　　“In Al’s mind, Trina, this matter seemed to be where neither money nor any use of force could solve, opposite to Kodama-san’s belief. The issue had shifted to such things as how to recover the integrity of Ruben and Al, and how to make them clear the disgrace Al had been forced to suffer unfoundedly. ..Shifted to how to maintain his, and Ruben’s, honor.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　After all, I did not ask Takano-san if all the story Alberto had told him, or what Castillo -the warehouse’s assistant manager- had allegedly told Alberto, could really be trusted. ..Much less, ‘Are you absolutely sure that it’s indeed his own and Ruben’s honor Alberto wants to reclaim? ..Instead of money?’
　　　I was sure that Takano-san was not mentally ready to answer such questions. I had no doubt in my mind that such questions would badly confuse him and eventually destroy something he had been counting on to survive his current hard life into fragments.
　　　They were the questions I should never ask him.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　I was aware very well that I could no longer keep Takano-san from doing whatever he wanted to. But I dared to ask him anyway, “So, what are you going to do next for yourself, Takano-san?”
　　　“Realistically speaking, Trina,” He answered, “I don’t think there may still be many things I have to get involved in, now that Al has already obtained all necessary information for him. However, I may be of some help for Al if he gets to believe he needs to directly talk with the Meiwa or the Toukai, or both. I may be able to help Al when he tries to make them apologize to Ruben and himself.
　　　“Well, to tell you the truth, Trina,” Takano-san smiled slightly, “Al later confessed me..: He actually attempted and failed to enter the building in which Meiwa’s Makati office was, in that very morning he came to my hotel room with Felix, before he showed up at my doorway. He went to Makati with Felix, thinking it would be a good experience for him to see, prior to his meeting with me, how their office looked like. But, according to Al himself, he couldn’t advance even a step when he finally arrived at the front of the building because his knees completely gave way. He complained, ‘You know why, Hiroshi? In their world, I found, everything was totally different from my world -Zapote corn fields, from what they wore to the way they wore those clothes to how they talked. Well, everything, anyway.’ Then, Al added jokingly, ‘All the people there, including security guards at the building’s entrance, gave me very wary eyes as if I were a kalabaw (water buffalo) that had just wandered out to the street in that modern big city directly from a rural paddy field.’
　　　“So, I said to Al, ‘Look, Al. Didn’t you think it would be quite natural for those people to throw wary eyes to you whose face was badly swollen, almost a half of which was covered with thick gauze?’ ‘Hum,’ said Al, ‘you’re right, Hiroshi! That may’ve been why.’ And then, he burst out into big laughter.
　　　“Well, Trina, that was when I thought Al might still need my help.” Takano-san once again looked up at the blue sly above the skyscrapers around the park. “That is, a help from the person who momentarily had looked to be one of Toukai’s executives to Al’s eye.”<
　　　Takano-san’s mind was totally set. He was going to do anything with Al if it was what the Zapote corn field foreman wanted him to do. And that was the way Takano-san wanted to compensate Ruben and Al for their great sufferings, in place of them.
　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　For some reason or other, on my mind at that particular moment were the figures of both Takano-san and Melba I had seen in the park in front of Malate Church a few weeks before, as well as of myself who had been calmly watching their backs. ..Dark clouds had been moving toward inland endlessly. ..Breeze had gently been blowing my hair.
　　　I thought..: Takano-san, too, had to live his own shikataganai (so destined) fate just as Melba had had to: ..Just as I had to: He was about to disappear from me to somewhere, having lived his life as faithfully to himself as he had been able to, just as Melba had abruptly gone out of my sight after living her life as sincerely and earnestly as she had been able to: And, perhaps, that was our shikataganai encounter all of us had to calmly accept.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Hey, Takano-san!” I said, making my voice sound as merrily as I could. “Let’s take some walk, now.”
　　　“That’s a very good idea, Trina,” A broad smile was on his face, “since I have a huge thirst for some liquid now.”
　　　“I’m sure you have, Takano-san. You’ve talked quite a long time without quenching it.”
　　　“Plus, I’ve smoked too many cigarettes.”
　　　Sure enough, there were more than a dozen butts on the ground near Takano-san’s feet. ..Abruptly, he bent down and began to pick them up, one by one, and then placed them on the folded newspaper on the bench, mumbling, “In California, I once quit smoking, but after the divorce...”
　　　Moments later, I threw my exaggerated astonishment to Takano-san coming back to the bench from a nearby trash box into which he had dumped those butts. “What a good boy you are, Takano-san!”
　　　He shrugged his shoulders slightly, smiling too innocently, to the extent I almost could not keep my eye on his face.
　　　I told him. “But, Takano-san, you could’ve left those cigarette butts right here,” I pointed the ground where they had been, “on the surface of the ground of this country, just as every Filipino smoker does.”
　　　“Well, if I were a Filipino...” He murmured, almost to himself.
　　　“All right.” I said. “And, tiyák na (of course), that’s why you’re so good a man, Takano-san!”
　　　“I’m not sure.” He tilted his head.
　　　“Yes, you are!” I smiled a wide, genuine smile, perhaps. “So, let’s walk now.”
I quickly grabbed Takano-san’s arm, and held it tightly with my both arms.
　　　He was not surprised.
　　　We started walking. And on Makati Avenue, I noticed some of the passers-by gave us their curious looks, possibly wondering what kind of relationship we had.
　　　I did not care.
　　　I knew clearly that it was my last time to walk with Takano-san arm in arm. And I believed that he, too, knew it was his last time to walk with me in such a way.
　　　I told him. “Well, Takano-san, I’ll treat you -an exhausted talker- to a glass of mango juice.”
　　　“Wow, really? I’ll appreciate it big time, Trina.” There was no cloud in his voice any longer.
　　　“But that’ll be only the beginning of our date today. We still have a few hours to spend together until Sakura’s opening, don’t we? So, let me see... It shall be you who treats me to a dinner, in return. Okay?”
　　　Takano-san nodded deeply.
　　　“Well, I feel like having Chinese food today, Takano-san. So, how about Jade Garden in the Commercial Center?”
　　　“No problem. ..No matter what restaurant you like, Trina.”
　　　“Are you aware this, Takano-san?” My voice sounded even brighter than I had hoped it to do. “The restaurant is widely believed to be the most expensive one among all Chinese restaurants in Makati, that is, in the Philippines, probably.”
　　　“Didn’t hear, Trina?” Takano-san laughed. “I said no matter what restaurant you like, right? I’m fully ready for any check.”
　　　“That’s very assuring, Takano-san. Then, let’s begin with two glasses of mango juice, before all.”
　　　I tightened my grab of Takano-san’s arm even more.
　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　At that moment, I understood much better than any other times before why Melba had made merry with Dr. Okuno’s group to that extent on the very night she had made up her mind to enter the world where not too many pleasant days would be awaiting for her.

Chapter61 November1984

　　　“Castillo told Al..:” Takano-san continued with his story. “The assistant manager got strongly shocked when he heard from one of his neighbors that Al had been assaulted and injured: ..Shocked because he hadn’t believed that the company he had been working for would take such an uncivilized action: ..Because he had been wishing that the company wouldn’t do anything like that: So, when he saw Martinez in the warehouse the following morning, he was very reluctant to talk about the attack that allegedly had happened the previous night:
　　　“Well, there was no need for Castillo to broach such a subject: As soon as he found Castillo, Martinez ordered his assistant to watch Al’s movement even more carefully than before: So, pretending having no knowledge of the attack at all, Castillo asked his boss why he had to: Without any sign of conscience, the boss answered to his assistant that they had had Al assaulted, and added that that’s why he wanted to see if the farm foreman had received their message as they had intended to give him.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----　　　
　　　“Trina, according to Castillo, this is how the Navarro Metals decided to have Al attacked, and it may need several minutes for me to relate it to you: After receiving the report from Castillo that Al had been trying to buy off some of Navarro Metals employees, Martinez pondered for a while on how to react to that new development: And, about one hour later, he reached the conclusion that the situation had worsened for his company to the extent he could no longer control it, that is, that it would be wiser for him to ask for the direction of Mr. Navarro of Navarro Trading -the president of the Navarro Metals at the same time- than to use his own discretion to do something about it: Needless to say, Martinez knew very well that Navarro -the president- would get furious at Martinez who had allowed such an accident to occur in his company’s premises, who had made it hard for the company to keep the illegal use of acid concealed within it: However, Martinez thought, it would be better, or he would look somewhat better, if he himself reported to the president that the use of the acid had already been revealed to the public than if Al sought the meeting with the president and told him in person that the farm foreman had come to know about it through the accident:
　　　“Martinez ordered Castillo to accompany him, and visited Navarro Metals’ headquarters in Makati with him, and finally reported to Navarro what had happened in Zapote: As Martinez had anticipated or feared, the president got mad extremely, initially: He scolded Martinez with the harshest words that it was very critical breach of duty for the operating manager not only to have failed to keep the vacant lot under careful vigilance but also not to have reported to the president such an accident for many days: Navarro yelled to Martinez, ‘Well, more importantly, what would you do if the authorities get to know about the illegal operation? And, as the result, Toukai retreats from this venture?’ And then, the president declared that, if things turned that way, he would have Martinez compensate all the loss the Navarro Trading suffered, even if it took whole his life:
　　　“Martinez was scared to death: However, to be fortunate for the manager, Navarro’s anger didn’t last very long: The president abruptly murmured, as if telling himself, ‘Wait a minute..’:
　　“Martinez held his breath, waiting his boss’ next words: And the president said, ‘This incident could be used in our favor’: Martinez quizzically kept his eye on the president: Castillo did the same: The president went on, ‘It has passed one year already since we started this venture, right?’ Martinez responded, ‘That’s right, Mr. Navarro’: The president said, ‘No matter how outrageous Toukai is, it may no longer be able to withdraw from this venture so easily as it has insisted it could, don’t you think?’ Martinez nodded: Navarro went on, ‘Toukai surely has a huge amount of scrap metals under contract in Los Angeles, which it has to purchase sooner or later. And, as a matter of fact, the amount of money they have invested in this venture is much larger than ours beyond comparison. That means, they, too, can’t retreat from this venture any longer. Well, there may be a way that I can take advantage of this incident and force the Japanese company to furnish the acid-neutralizing apparatus right away, not one year later from now’: Having heard that, Martinez grinned for the first time during the day.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Navarro -the president- made an oversees call to the Toukai in person: And the man who talked with Navarro through an interpreter was, Trina, a vice president of the scrap metal recycling company. Well, there was no way for me to know if this vice president had been the same one I had met in Los Angeles three years ago, though.” Takano-san said and smiled a little wryly. “Whoever he was, Trina, seemingly, now they had an employee, at least, who spoke English.”
　　　I nodded to Takano-san.
　　　He went on. “Having been told of Ruben’s burn and Al’s persistent effort to get informed about it, the vice president initially became somewhat panicky: Indeed, Navarro observed, the incident could be used as a good tool for his negotiation with the Japanese company on the acid-neutralizing apparatus, which he intended to bring up next: At least, that’s what Navarro sensed initially:
　　　“So, half expecting Toukai’s answer, like, that it would furnish the apparatus as soon as it could, Navarro asked the vice president what measure his company wanted to take: However, the vice president’s answer wasn’t like what Navarro had expected: His answer, instead, was that the Toukai had never been involved in any legal issue in the Philippines, thus, he believed, this kind of matter would be handled much better by a Philippine company:
　　　“Navarro didn’t appreciate this answer: He felt he was being forced to take whole responsibility for the incident: So, he dared to say to the vice president that they wouldn’t have had this mess had they furnished such apparatus in the first place: The vice president wasn’t impressed at all with this remark, however: All he responded to Navarro was that the Japanese company would keep its promise to the Navarro Trading that it would build the apparatus two years later as their contract clearly stated one year earlier:
　　　“Navarro reacted with a cynical tone that he had no idea on how to handle this kind of situation since he had never broken any law in the Philippines as an entrepreneur despite the vice president’s opinion that this kind of matter would be handled much better by a Philippine company:
　　　“The vice president’s answer didn’t come back right away: He sounded to be talking with somebody at the other end of the line: And it was a few minutes later that, through the interpreter, the vice president finally directed Navarro this way: Consult Meiwa’s Makati office since, the vice president believed, the Philippine affiliate of the giant Japanese trading company must be well familiar with all kinds of business troubles that had occurred in the country, and therefore, it could provide them with very helpful ideas:
　　　“And then, the vice president told Navarro of the name of the person he should meet at Meiwa’s Makati office. ..As you may be guessing right, Trina, the name Navarro received from Toukai’s vice president was Yoshida’s -the office’s nonferrous section manager.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Although he hadn’t accomplished his goal to have the Toukai furnish the acid-neutralizing apparatus sooner, Navarro was satisfied for the time being with the fact that he had had the Toukai take the initiatives on how to keep their illegal operation in the warehouse concealed: For he calculated that, in case things turned out wrong for them, the bigger responsibility the Toukai was obligated to take for the matter the more strongly the Navarro Trading would be able to voice its opinion against the Japanese company in the future.
　　　“So, Navarro ordered Martinez to call up Meiwa’s Makati office and make an appointment with Yoshida. ..Needless to mention, Trina, Yoshida was no longer there, though.
　　　“Navarro wasn’t surprised that Toukai’s vice president had had no knowledge of Yoshida’s transfer to the Middle East since, as we already know, Trina, the Toukai completely had cut its relationship with Yoshida and Meiwa’s Makati office. ..Right after using him and the office for its own convenience three years before.
　　　“And at Meiwa’s Makati office the following day, it was Kodama-san -Yoshida’s successor- who met Navarro and Martinez, and Castillo who was ordered to accompany them because he was believed to be most informed about what had been happening in Zapote.
　　　“To start with, Navarro explained to Kodama-san how the Navarro Metals had been established three years earlier: And then, he told Yoshida’s successor enthusiastically of the fact that the Navarro Metals still was importing shredded scrap metals though Meiwa’s Los Angeles’ office: For he believed that the more Kodama-san came to know about the good relationship between the Meiwa and the Navarro Trading the more useful ideas the new nonferrous section manager would willingly offer him:
　　　“Kodama-san reacted differently from what Navarro had expected, however: Without being surprised or impressed, Kodama-san responded to Navarro like this: ‘Well, as a matter of fact, Mr. Navarro, I was going to call your company soon because I had accidentally found, when I had a chance to talk with one of my colleagues in Los Angeles office by phone, that your company and mine had had such an intimate relationship. Well, I believed, Mr. Navarro, Meiwa’s Makati office deserved to share with your Navarro Trading the handling of those scrap metals which are currently imported from U.S. to the Philippines and exported to Japan from the Philippines exclusively by you, Navarro Trading. And, considering about how the Navarro Metals was established, which you just finished explaining to me, it’s kind of hard for us to accept the fact that Meiwa’s Makati office has been totally disregarded in the transaction.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“According to what Navarro told Martinez and Castillo later..: Navarro wasn’t prepared to be confronted with such demand by Kodama-san: The president of both the Navarro Trading and the Navarro Metals immediately became suspicious that there might have been dirty talks between two Japanese companies -Toukai and Meiwa- on how to take advantage of the Philippine companies in a big trouble.
　　　“Navarro was said to have reasoned this way: Toukai’s vice president must’ve called Meiwa’s Makati office by himself after mistakenly telling Navarro to consult with Yoshida: And the vice president was told that Yoshida had been transferred to Riyadh: So, the vice president explained to Kodama-san, who finally answered the phone call, under what circumstances Navarro was going to seek a meeting with Kodama-san: The vice president had to tell Kodama-san even what relationship the Toukai, the Meiwa and the Navarro Trading had had three years earlier: And then, the vice president asked Kodama-san to offer Navarro a couple of ideas that would help Navarro get out of his current difficult situation: Kodama-san agreed to figure out such ideas for Navarro, but he was very unhappy, on the other hand, with the fact that Meiwa’s Makati office had been totally eliminated from the trilateral international business: The vice president had anticipated that Meiwa’s Makati office would express its strong displeasure about such elimination: So the vice president suggested Kodama-san to demand some concession from the Navarro Trading upon handling commission for importing and exporting of the scrap metals to-and-from the Philippines: Well, the vice president surely knew, his company -Toukai- wouldn’t sacrifice anything even if the Navarro Trading had to surrender to the Meiwa some portion of its business or handling commission.”
　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“But, Trina, I don’t think Navarro guessed all right. Because it was clearly before I visited Zapote, that is, many days before Al began trying to buy off some of Navarro Metals’ employees, that Kodama-san abruptly called up Yoshida in Riyadh and asked about his knowledge of the Navarro Metals, wasn’t it? That means, Trina, Kodama-san had already been aware of the relationship between the Meiwa and the Navarro Trading, as well as of the existence of the Navarro Metals, for sure, a few days before Navarro’s phone call to Toukai to discuss about how to react to Al’s movement. Kodama-san didn’t need to hear about such relationship from Toukai’s vice president because he already knew about it. So I believe, Trina, that Kodama-san was actually going to call the Navarro Trading. The successor of Yoshida had a good enough reason all by himself to demand the Navarro Trading some concession. Look, Trina, just Yoshida had me in Los Angeles, it wasn’t very unnatural that Kodama-san had his own friend right there. So it wasn’t unlikely at all, either, even if the friend of Kodama-san had come to know about the scrap metals being exported from Los Angeles to the Philippines, and about the fact that the handling agent of the imported scrap metals in the Philippines wasn’t Meiwa’s Makati office, was it? It isn’t too difficult for you to guess that the friend in L.A. office might’ve told Kodama-san of all those things, is it, Trina?
　　　“And if my supposition like that isn’t off the mark, Trina, when Navarro sought an emergent meeting with Kodama-san, the successor of Yoshida may have even assumed that Yoshida had successfully persuaded Navarro to visit Meiwa’s Makati office to exchange some greeting with Kodama-san and to tell him that the Navarro Trading would concede to Meiwa’s Makati office some portion of the handling privilege of the scrap metals, in and out. ..Kodama-san may even have been very happy to have bothered to call up Yoshida in Riyadh several days earlier.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“No matter what suspicion was on Toukai’s vice president, Navarro couldn’t afford to loose his calm: He insisted that, as for the trilateral international business, he had a huge trouble he had to solve right away, before discussing about the handling commission of the scrap metals or else: And, before Kodama-san opened his mouth, Navarro began his explanation on what was the huge trouble, although he was convinced that Kodama-san had already been fully informed by the Toukai about the incident the warehouse’s illegal use of acid had brought out.
　　　“By the way, Trina, to the eye of Castillo, who was compelled to accompany Navarro and Martinez, Kodama-san looked a little eccentric: Actually, Castillo was surprised when he saw Kodama-san begin smiling happily, before doing anything else, right after Navarro’s explanation about his trouble had ended: ..Smiling as if the Meiwa’s nonferrous section manager were very proud of the fact that a local Philippine company was desperately seeking his idea on such a delicate matter:
　　　“Kodama-san didn’t take particularly long a time to figure out his idea: For a start, he told Navarro solemnly, ‘From my own experience, I deeply believe in this: There is no problem on the globe that money can’t solve. So, why don’t you, Mr. Navarro, hand some money to the man?’
　　　“Navarro patiently kept listening to Kodama-san though he had gotten very disappointed with such a commonplace idea: Kodama-san continued, ‘You’ll be forced to face government officials if this thing once gets known to the public: Well, you want to avoid paying them any money even if you want them to keep their eyes closed on this matter, because such kind of tactics usually cost you most. ..Especially, in a country like this, very poor.., well, under developing, those government officials tend to be very greedy.’
　　　“Navarro couldn’t keep his mouth shut any longer: He said, ‘That’s why we seriously want to solve this problem before it gets revealed to the public. And, as I’ve explained to you, Mr. Kodama, the man has enough money to try to buy off some of my employees. So, I’m not sure if the man will easily accept our money.’
　　　“Kodama-san didn’t falter at all with Navarro’s response: According to Castillo, Kodama-san, without being ashamed at all, plainly about-faced: ‘Well, ..except for the cases in which blackmailers like the man who can manage to use such sly tactics are involved. Matter of fact, it is absolute folly for anybody to easily hand any money to such a man. If you do, you make the matter worsened for you. Moreover, in a country like this, if people come to know that the man obtained some money so easily from you, you can’t deny the possibility that some of them, trying to copy the man’s success, may want to extort reparation, or whatever like that, from you, even by intentionally throwing their children into the ponds at somebody’s backyard.’”
　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　If I was not mistaken, what was expressed on Takano-san’s face at that moment was a deep hatred for a Kodama-san. Nonetheless, his voice remained calm. “Castillo told Al..: Although Navarro was skeptical that somebody would throw his or her child into his ponds, the president of the Navarro Metals himself had been afraid that some people might become copycats of Al and try to extort some money from his company by doing some other unforeseeable things: But it wasn’t very pleasant for Navarro to be scornfully suggested such possibilities by Kodama-san, a foreigner: Navarro kept himself patient, though, and said, ‘So, Mr. Kodama?’
　　　“Kodama-san had no interest at all in how Navarro might be feeling about his comment: The nonferrous section manager said, ‘Well, as for some kind of trouble, especially a case like this where such a crafty extortionist is involved, I’ve once been taught by one of my seniors in my company, who had worked in many under-developing countries, that the use of force sometimes could solve our trouble much more easily than the use of money.’ At that very moment, Castillo saw, Kodama-san was even chuckling.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Navarro had already extracted the useful idea from the Meiwa. He returned to the Navarro Trading in Makati with Martinez and Castillo, and made his second phone call to the Toukai to tell what he had been suggested by Meiwa’s Kodama-san: The vice president of the Toukai reacted very quickly, if the time for translation was disregarded, as if he had been anticipating such suggestion would surely come out from Kodama-san: He said to Navarro, ‘That may be a very good idea. ..Do you have any connection?’
　　　“Navarro later confessed to Martinez and Castillo like this: The president of the Navarro Trading and the Navarro Metals no longer cared even if the Toukai and Meiwa’s Makati office had had secret conversation, no matter what, prior to his visit to Kodama-san: He didn’t get mad at the attitude of the Toukai’s vice president who virtually believed that any Philippine company must have such connection with the people who could put their force for sale to anybody: For Navarro, it was the Toukai, through Kodama-san, who had chosen the use of force as a measure to stop Al’s movement and shut him up: Navarro was merely a man who had to act exactly as the Toukai had suggested:
　　　“Navarro was happy that he hadn’t given the Toukai any reason for the Japanese company to try to make him accept unfavorable business terms later on, or that he hadn’t gotten into any position where he had to take all responsibility on the matter: He replied to the vice president calmly, ‘As you know, my companies operate their businesses legally and earnestly. So, needless to say, I don’t have any such connection. But, if that’s a very good idea for you, I’ll try to find it.’
　　　“Before the vice president opened his mouth, Navarro hang up: And he kept staring alternately at the faces of Martinez and Castillo for a while: The operating manager of the warehouse and his assistant knew what conclusion the conversation between their boss and Toukai’s vice president had reached. ..Without any hesitation, Navarro ordered Martinez to find a gang of scoundrels or something in some skid row in Manila.”

Chapter60 November1984

　　　While Takano-san was lighting his cigarette again, to be odd, I was visualizing a variety of beautiful views that Takano-san could enjoy from his room everyday: The placid Manila Bay reflecting the gorgeous blue color of the clear sky: Magnificent sunset glow in the sky westward: A number of huge foreign freighters anchored far off the shore...
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　“Having taken a little sip of the orange juice I had offered him in a glass, Al started talking.” Takano-san returned to his story. “Trina, when Al visited Castillo, he had never met the assistant operating manager of the Navarro Metals in person and actually had almost no idea at all on what type of person he was, although Al had heard of the assistant’s name numerous times already since the beginning of the incident. Why he hadn’t? ..Because the assistant was, like his boss Martinez, not from one of local families that had lived in the town for a long, long time. They were merely employees of Navarro Trading, who had been sent to the town from Metro Manila about one year earlier to operate the Navarro Metals.
　　　“So, Trina, Al was nervous a little bit when he got at Castillo’s house. The confidence shown to me the previous day was somewhat shaky now. ..Among others, he had no idea at all what kind of people those who worked in Makati might be. He suspected that they might be much slyer than he could imagine. He was cautious that Castillo might do something outrageous after the meeting with him, taking advantage of Al’s aggressive move, just as the warehouse people had actually had Al assaulted.
　　　“However, Trina, Al recovered his confidence as soon as he saw Castillo coming out to the foyer, having been told by his maid who was his visitor: For, Trina, Al detected a sort of fear on Castillo’s face. ..’Thinking back about it, Hiroshi,’ Al told me, ‘for Castillo, he himself was the one of those who had been involved in those rascals’ attack on me. And I was just in front of him, with badly swollen cheeks covered by big gauze. So, he may have had a more than enough reason to regret what he had done to me, or a reason to fear that I might return him the same harm I had been given by the rascals.’
　　　“Anyway, Al intuited that he could handle Castillo quite well because the assistant didn’t look at all like a very able businessman as Al had been anticipating. Castillo looked rather like an owner of a small hardware store in Zapote, for example, being very unimpressive. Or like one of the people who lived somewhere in Al’s own world.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Having made sure that the maid retreated and no one was eavesdropping their conversation, Al told the assistant. ‘You surely know why I’m here, don’t you, Mr. Castillo?’ Castillo hesitantly said, ‘Well?’ So Al said straightforwardly, ‘I want to know under what circumstances my nephew got that burn in your warehouse, Mr. Castillo. Oh, and more, who hired those scoundrels to have me assaulted.’ Castillo initially looked faltered a little but still insisted, ‘I don’t know what you’re talking about.’ So Al told him, ‘Well, can’t you still recall anything even if I say I have money here, which is five times larger than the one I offered to the employees of your company for the information I needed?’
　　　“That five times larger wasn’t Al’s lie, Trina. In fact, I had put such an amount of money in that envelope I had handed to him the previous evening. Al told me, ‘Castillo appeared to get immediately how much that five times larger would sum to. That means, Hiroshi, as I had anticipated, he had been following all my action down to the last detail.’
　　　“Casting his careful eye behind Al, Castillo responded to him, ‘Has anybody seen you?’ Al answered, ‘I don’t think I’ve been seen by anybody who might cause you troubles, Mr. Castillo. But, even if I’ve been, I’m going to tell people in this town tomorrow, anyway, that I visited your house tonight but I couldn’t pull out any information after all from you who were so stubbornly loyal to your company, as well as that I had never met such an uncompromising person like you in my whole life, and so on.’ Stepping back into the house, Castillo said to Al, ‘Let’s talk inside.’”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Being secluded with Al in his small living room, Castillo surprised Al with his sudden, deep sigh. Deliberately putting his envelope onto the table between himself and Castillo, Al scrutinized the assistant’s facial expression. Castillo was frowning with some sort of mental pain. Al told me, ‘Initially, I suspected, Hiroshi, that he was struggling to decide whether he should take the money and betray his company or he should refuse to accept the money and maintain his loyalty to the company. But, Hiroshi, it apparently turned out that I was wrong. ..Castillo abruptly began his confession to me.’
　　　“And Castillo’s confession was, Trina, in short..: He had been sick and tired of the way Navarro Metals had been handling the accident young Ruben had encountered: As for the attack on Al, he was very sorry for what had happened to him, and he couldn’t stand the Navarro’s attitude like that: He had become totally skeptical of the business-operating style of his superiors who had tried to keep the company’s interest first by any means, even having Al assaulted by those scoundrels. ..At this point, Al was listening to Castillo still with his presumption that the assistant had been telling him such a story in order to justify himself accepting the money.
　　　“Al told me Castillo had explained to him how and why he had become so skeptical, like this: Martinez -the operating manager of Navarro Metals- and Castillo -Martinez’s assistant- were totally unaware of Ruben’s burn until Al and his company came to the warehouse for the first time: Therefore, when one of the security guards at the gate came to Martinez’s office and told him that seven to eight men and women gathered at the gate, wanting to talk with him, the manager didn’t know for what Al was seeking a meeting with him: Nonchalantly inclining his ear to the security guard’s report to Martinez, Castillo kept sipping his tea for a while:
　　　“But the office’s such easy mood changed all at once when the security guard said, ‘They insist that a young boy, named Ruben, got burnt with acid, or something...’: Immediately, Martinez stiffened his attitude and ordered the guard to keep Al and his team outside the gate and tell them that he wouldn’t meet anybody during the day, and to tell all the guards not to exchange even a word with the visitors while maintaining the front gate tightly closed:
　　　“Nonetheless, Al and his company didn’t leave from the gate, and repeated their demand for the meeting with Martinez: So, eventually, Martinez ordered Castillo to hand the visitors a statement, as the first reaction of the warehouse to them, which would say in effect that Navarro Metals was totally immune from any accountability for whatever happened to a person who trespassed upon its private premises illegally.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“After that, Martinez’s move was very quick: As the next step, he directed Castillo to make those security guards identify each one of the visitors in front of the gate: So, Castillo himself went to the gate to take a peek through the gap between gate pole and the door, and identified by himself a couple of people among them: And Castillo and security guards collectively concluded that Al’s group consisted of three Ruben’s relatives and five neighbors of his: Martinez’s next order to Castillo was that the assistant should visit all of the five neighbors of Ruben, leaving three relatives of his untouched, even during the day, and make the five people fully understand that it would be wiser for them to stay away from the incident: And then, Martinez directed Castillo to put up warning letters to all the warehouse’s employees at several places again, which would tell them, ‘Do not tell outside people anything about this company’s operation. If you do, you may be fired.’
　　　“Originally, Trina, this warning was aimed to prevent somebody from attempting to intrude the metal company’s premises and steal those already-sorted scrap metals, according to Castillo. But this time, obviously, the warning was put up with the specific purpose to keep it concealed that the warehouse was using acid. Well, Castillo understood that way because he knew Martinez had a good reason to hide the warehouse’s use of the acid from the public.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“And Al’s intuition had been right on the mark, Trina. I mean, there was some kind of unlawful conduct in the warehouse, as he had believed. Castillo told Al like this:
　　　“Well, as we know already, Trina… The Navarro Metals was established, first, to import shredded auto scrap metals from the United States, second, to sort the mixed scrap metals into each category by laborers’ hands, and third, to export those sorted metals to Japan to sell them to refineries through the Toukai Metal Recycling: And the warehouse’s role was sorting: But the sorting operation was much more labor-consuming than people might guess because each lump was often made of a few different metals intertwined one another: However, aluminum was different: As for this particular metal, there was a much easier and more economical way to separate it from other metals than hand-sorting: That was the use of an acid that dissolves only aluminum, leaving all other metals intact: With this method, aluminum can easily be made to all-aluminum ingots. And, Trina, that’s the method Navarro Metals chose to use: Well, there was nothing wrong with this method itself.
　　　“The problem here was, Trina... I just said, ‘more economical’, but there was another way to make the acid use even more economical: And that was to eliminate the process of neutralizing the used acid: Navarro Metals decided not to neutralize the acid used to separate aluminum from other metals, first, to avoid the initial cost of furnishing a set of acid-neutralizing apparatus, and second, to lower the daily sorting cost after the opening of the warehouse. They decided so while being well aware that it’s illegal and very unethical.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“According to Castillo, Trina, it was a little more than one year before, when Castillo still belonged to Navarro Trading completely, that is, a few months earlier than the sorting operation actually began, that there was a very crucial discussion between the trading company and the Toukai Metal Recycling of Japan: And its subject was whether or not they must have the acid-neutralizing apparatus right away: The discussion became unavoidable when the Toukai abruptly notified to the Navarro Trading that it had changed its original plan and had decided to put off their furnishing of such apparatus for two years.
　　　“Navarro Trading retorted that such apparatus be absolutely necessary, yet, as soon as possible: For, the trading company knew, first of all, it was illegal for any corporation in the Philippines to dump any acid, even already used, into natural soil, and second, there might be unforeseen accidents in the future, caused by such illegal dumping of the acid: Contamination of nearby ponds, creeks and underground water; Ill effect to farmlands...
　　　“Castillo told Al..: Among key members of the Navarro Trading, the persons who wanted the acid-neutralizing apparatus most were Mr. Chavez -the export manager I talked with by phone the other day- and Castillo himself: And, because he had become a strong believer of quality control through his own experience in garment section of the trading company, Mr. Chavez even declared that the Navarro Metals should never start its operation without the apparatus:
　　　“In the meantime, the Toukai stubbornly emphasized that it was critical for the scrap metal sorting venture to make profit in the first year of its operation: The Toukai was way far from indecisive when it threatened the Philippine trading company that the metal recycling company would be forced to retreat from the venture if the venture would produce no profit at all during the first two years:
　　　“Their discussion over the phone lasted for a few days, about one hour everyday: By then, the Navarro Trading had already purchased the land for the scrap metal sorting facilities in Zapote: It had spent a lot of time and fund in the venture: And the person who finally decided on the matter was Mr. Navarro -the owner and president of the Navarro Trading: He told his key employees that he could no longer lose the venture, and notified the Toukai that he would accept the metal recycling company’s plan to furnish the acid-neutralizing apparatus two years later: Upon hearing the president’s decision, Mr. Chavez argued that the Toukai might’ve had no intention at all from the beginning to furnish such apparatus and might repeat the same opinion two years later: But the president plainly declined his export manager’s argument, saying, ‘I won’t worry about that until things turns out that way. Beside, I, too, want to have good profit during the first year of the operation’: Mr. Chavez had no other choice than to obey his boss’s decision.
　　　“Trina, when I talked with him, Mr. Chavez sounded to be very proud of the venture in Zapote. But, in fact, there had been such conflict between the two companies, hidden behind his story.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“By the way, the person who supported the president’s decision most enthusiastically, unconditionally, was Martinez -Mr. Chavez’s assistant then: And Martinez was later rewarded with the position as an operating manager of the warehouse.
　　　“Castillo’s voice tone abruptly became a little emotional when his story reached that point. And he told Al, ‘Your nephew wouldn’t have been burnt at all if Mr. Navarro had not been dead at that time, that is, about one year ago.’”
　　　I muttered, “Anó (What)?”
　　　“Al, too, didn’t get what he was told, Trina. As far as Al had learned thus far, it was Mr. Navarro who ultimately decided to put off the furnishing of acid-neutralizing apparatus, who in effect caused Ruben’s burn in the Philippine side.
　　　“Castillo explained to Al this way: That Navarro who had decided to put off the furnishing of the apparatus was one of real younger brothers of Mr. Navarro -the founder of the Navarro Trading- who had begun the talk with the Toukai about the venture three years earlier: And the older Navarro had died of lung cancer about one year before the venture’s initiation. ..That is, Trina, roughly two years ago from today.
　　　“Castillo added like this: ‘The older Navarro was an aggressive, eager entrepreneur, but at the same time, he was as ethical as anybody in the world. So I believe he wouldn’t have allowed this kind of illegal operation under him.’”
　　　“That tells us, Takano-san,” I said in a low voice, feeling relieved a little, “That Mr. Navarro whom your friend Yoshida-san had introduced to the Toukai Metal Recycling wasn’t directly involved in this matter, was he?”
　　　“No, he wasn’t, Trina.” A mild smile was on Takano-san’s face, too. “Mr. Navarro whom Yoshida knew in person had no opportunity to order his employees to operate his venture illegally. It wasn’t Yoshida’s miss evaluation on the man that caused Ruben that burn. ..To be honest with you, Trina, I was relieved in my hotel room while listening to Al’s story like that. ..Feeling somewhat exonerated. I mean, for both Yoshida and myself.”
　　　I deeply nodded to Takano-san, while feeling that the word exonerated might not have been a very suitable word for the situation they had been in.
　　　Takano-san went on. “The younger Navarro, who had been given a role as a supervisor of affiliated sawing factories when his older brother had been operating the trading company, inherited the trading company. And to Castillo’s eye, this younger brother of the founder Navarro looked too eager to show off his business capability to the people around. Smiling coldly, Castillo told Al, ‘It’s very unfortunate that such his eagerness was shown most typically in accepting that illegal operation.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“A kind of compromise was made between the Toukai and the Navarro.” Takano-san said. “The Toukai agreed to promise the Navarro Trading in black and white that the Japanese company would reinvest for the acid-neutralizing apparatus two years later, while the Philippine company, which was to actually operate the Navarro Metals in Zapote, decided that it would build a few shallow, open-air makeshift ponds in the premises it had already purchased for their scrap-metal-sorting operation and would keep such used acid in the ponds, hoping the acid could naturally dry out during the dry season.
　　　“To be fair to the Navarro Metals, I must add this, Trina: The metal company tried to reduce the danger of the used acid, by regularly spraying slaked lime into those ponds to neutralize it as much as the company could within its budget, even more frequently during the rainy season when it was more likely that the acid-contaminated water might overflow the ponds. But, obviously, that wasn’t enough. Ruben got burnt in the ponds. ..’Well, that’s the only logical presumption on where the young boy got burnt,’ Castillo told Al.
　　　“By the way, Trina, none of Navarro Metals people was paying attention to the narrow gap at the bottom of the wooden fence, because the gap looked too small for those people to be alert that it might be used by some grown persons to trespass on the premises through it and steal their scrap metals. Besides, the vacant lot and the indoor workshop where the scrap metals were stored were always kept inaccessible one another, being completely shuttered by the fences and a locked door. And, as the result, Trina, the vacant lot wasn’t the place security guards were ordered to keep their eyes on.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“What Martinez was most afraid of when Al and his relatives came to the warehouse for the second time was, Trina,” Takano-san continued, “that he might be fired if their illegal dumping of the used acid got revealed to outside people and some of them reported it to the authorities: Penalty, cease of operation, immediate furnishing of the expensive acid-neutralizing apparatus: Probable orders by the authorities, Martinez had to think, would cost the Toukai and the Navarro Trading a fortune: And there was no question that the two companies would have to pay the authority officials a significant amount of money, too, if they tried to avoid such official sanctions on them: Martinez didn’t want to be accountable for such bad a situation: He thought he had to keep the use of acid in the warehouse concealed by all means: He ordered Castillo once again to threaten a few town people -Ruben’s neighbors- who were already involved in the matter and all the employees of the Navarro Metals not to cooperate with Al or not to talk with him at all:
　　　“Martinez’s threatening worked so well not only for Ruben’s neighbors as to distance themselves from Al but also for Navarro Metals’ employees as to remain very obedient to his order: So Martinez thought he wouldn’t have to report the Navarro Trading in Makati of what had been happening in Zapote. Well, Trina, at that time, Martinez estimated or was confident that, now that Al must’ve come to realize by then how difficult for him to make noise in the town against the company, he would agree to stop his quest for further inquiry of Ruben’s burn if the warehouse told him, while reminding him he would gain nothing by reporting the incident to the authorities, that it would offer Ruben some consolation money.
　　　“So, Trina, Martinez wasn’t prepared at all to hear the news that Al was trying to pull out the information he wanted from the warehouse’s employees by means of buy-off. And, for the operating manager, it was a drastic change of situation. He understood very well, now, that the fact Al had enough money to buy off somebody meant the farm foreman couldn’t be quieted by some consolation money alone. To him, Al turned out to be much more dangerous a man. Besides, Martinez himself was the person who had once thought he could force Al into silence with such money. So he found no reason there to be very optimistic that no Navarro Metals’ employee would accept such dirty money from Al.”

Chapter59 November1984

　　　Takano-san’s story was heading toward a totally unanticipated direction.
　　　I was almost at a loss listening.
　　　“So, Trina, I can’t go anywhere yet. ..Till this matter gets solved completely. That is, there is no place in the world, after all, where I can live peacefully. ..No place.”
　　　I was absent-mindedly gazing down at a package of Marlboro placed on the folded news paper -Bulletin Today- between Takano-san and myself.
　　　“Getting back to the topic I just left, Trina,” Takano-san said, “on the day I proposed my buy-off idea to Al, I stayed at his house overnight: For I happened to possess just about enough cash to buy one Navarro Metals employee, and it still was a possibility that Al might catch the one who could offer him good information during the day.
　　　“But, it turned out, Al couldn’t find anybody not only during the day but also the following day. So, in the evening of my second day in Zapote, I returned to Manila with Felix, having handed the cash to Al.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　‘Having handed the cash to Al...’
　　　I was caught in an unexpected, new fear.
　　　And I was very embarrassed, at the same time, feeling as if I had become Mr. Kobayashi -the Japanese button manufacturer- who Takano-san believed had come to doubt the sincerity of his mistress, Eva, who had mutated to be a very enthusiastic devotee to her button shell purchasing business.
　　　However, I was a person who had been bitterly taught by Cesar -my still-legally-married husband-perhaps too well how easily people could change when they suddenly got money they usually didn’t have. ..I was a person who had learned a painful lesson from what had happened to Melba that the Philippines was the country where a stepfather might steal his stepdaughter’s money and run away from her with it.
　　　No. I did not know anything about Al. He might be a very reliable man of justice as Takano-san believed. My fear might be just ludicrous.
　　　I prayed that it might be so. And that was all I could do at that time.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“During the following few days,” Takano-san went on, “I spent most of my time staying in my hotel room. Well, this time, not just killing time by casting my eyes to the television screen, but studying Tagalog. I patiently waited for Al to call me up. And I still didn’t feel like enjoying myself at Sakura.
　　　“It was the fourth day from the day I had returned to Manila from Zapote that Al finally phoned me. I asked him a little too hurriedly, perhaps, ‘You’ve found an informant or two, haven’t you, Al?’ Al responded, ‘Hiroshi, they’re much tougher than I guessed. We no longer can underestimate them.’
　　　“Wondering why his voice had sounded so blurry, I asked, ‘What does that mean, Al?’ He replied calmly, ‘I got assaulted last night.’ My response was very slow, Trina. ‘Assaulted?’ He said, ‘Yes. ..Ambushed on the way to see one of Navarro Metals’ employees.’ Finally, I came to understand what kind of assault that had been. And, understanding it, I felt a chill running down my spine. Al went on, ‘I got beaten quite badly down on to the ground by four people I had never seen in this town. ..Well, they may have been five. ..Almost in a blink of time, anyway.’
　　　“I asked Al a very silly question, ‘Did you get hurt?’ Al replied, ‘I have swollen cheeks and lips. And that’s giving me a hard time to speak normally. But I’m all right Hiroshi. Don’t worry.’ Trina, now I knew, the swollen cheeks and lips were the cause why he was speaking so blurrily.
　　　“Al went on, ‘Anyway, those people who attacked me were quite nimble. Skilled. ..Like I was already down on my stomach in the bush alongside the road when I noticed what had happened to me. I guess it didn’t take any longer than thirty seconds until then from the start of the attack. So, I have every reason, Hiroshi, to suppose that they were the kind of people who’re quite used to such an action. ..In order to force me to stop fishing for information about Ruben’s burn, I guess, the warehouse must’ve hired a few rascals in Manila or people like that.’
　　　“Not that I believed I could do something very helpful for Al, Trina, I told him anyway, ‘I’m on my way.’ He responded, ‘No, Hiroshi. You better not come to Zapote until I send you okay signal. Matter of fact, I’ve decided to make this phone call to you to tell you exactly that. I think we better be more careful about our own move, because those people who attacked me might want to know whether I gave up my buy-off attempt after their attack, if indeed they were hired by the warehouse. That is, to know about that, they may still be watching me from some covert place in the town. ..Well, they may already have left the town, but some of the warehouse employees may still be watching us, directed by Martinez or Castillo. So, what if you show up in front of them, Hiroshi? They might...’ And laughter was mixed in Al’s voice. ‘Hiroshi, you don’t suppose that they’ll assume you, apparently a Japanese, came to the town to enjoy yourself one night, at a humble local disco, accompanied by me, do you?’ I said, ‘They may not assume that way, but...’ Al was serious again already, ‘I don’t want you to encounter the same kind of danger as I did. ..So, for a while, we better avoid any conspicuous move.’”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“Trina, I had to prevent the recurrence of what had already happened to Al.” Takano-san said. “I told Al, ‘Let’s walk out on our buy-off plan, Al. That’s too risky.’ Al responded, ‘The way I chose was just too open, Hiroshi. Well, I thought I didn’t need to act clandestinely because I believed what I was doing was totally just. ..Of course, I knew that some of the warehouse employees whom I contacted would report to Martinez or Castillo about what I had told them or what I had wanted to know from them. But, honestly, I didn’t anticipated that I would be hated by the warehouse to the degree I got ambushed, assaulted. ..And my problem now is, Hiroshi, that all the employees of the warehouse are already aware what will happen to themselves if they cooperate with me. That is, it’s going to be even more difficult for me to pull out useful information from them.’
　　　“I said to Al, ‘That’s why I say... Let’s give up the...’ Al interrupted, ‘Do you still give your ear to me if I say I have another idea that is converted from the original one a little bit?’ I asked back, ‘Converted?’ Al answered, ‘One new idea has come up onto my mind, Hiroshi, which may help me obtain needed information rather inconspicuously, if you kindly increase the amount of money for my buy-off effort.’”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　‘If you kindly increase the amount of money’?
　　　My fear was even deeper now.
　　　Nonetheless, I did not voice my fear. I just could not. All I could, instead, was to try to convince myself that Alberto must have not lied to Takano-san just as Eva must have not betrayed Kobayashi in fact. I prayed that Takano-san’s story might not head for the direction where he would end with Al’s betrayal, or that such a cruel thing might never have happened to him. ..I believed that, for Takano-san, the Philippines had to be magandá forever, and would keep its beauty forever.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　“I didn’t know how to respond to Al, Trina.” Takano-san went on. “I was afraid that my adding of money might bring even more dangerous situation to him. But his new idea turned out to be so bold and unique that I thought nobody else could’ve thought of. ..I mean, like, ‘Hey, that might work.’
　　　“After all, Trina, Al and I decided that we’d better wait to see what would happen in Zapote the following few days. ..We couldn’t be too careful, anyway.”
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　I was in great fear now.
　　　Alberto had proposed to Takano-san to increase the fund for their buy-off attempt, double or triple.
　　　Needless to say, Takano-san at that moment was telling me about the things in the past -what had already happened. So, then, there was nothing I could do for him other than praying that his story might not head for any undesirable direction.
　　　　　　　　　　-----
　　　Takano-san continued with his story. “Al’s next call, Trina, came to me right next day, earlier than I had expected. Half laughing, he told me, ‘This time, Navarro people seem to have underestimated my tenacity, Hiroshi. I walked around the town here and there yesterday, casting my careful eye everywhere. But I didn’t find any hint that somebody was still watching me. I guess, they must’ve thought the attack had given me a good enough threat. And those rascals who had assaulted me appeared to have been allowed to return, I guess, to Manila. ..Well, those guys who attacked me may’ve been very professional utilizing violence, but those people who hired them didn’t seem to be well used to such a violent action and consequently overestimated its effect on me.’
　　　“Trina, now, it seemed that one of our problem had already been solved, fortunately. There seemed to be no more immediate danger for Al to be attacked again. I asked him, ‘So?’ Al said, ‘There is a town named Imus not far from Zapote. And I want you to come to the town to see me tomorrow evening. Can you? Well, as I just said, seemingly, nobody’s watching me any longer in Zapote, but I think we better avoid meeting there just in case.’
　　　“We decided where and what time we would meet, and hang up. And the following day, I exchanged my yen for peso at one of black market dealers on Mabini Street, and left for Imus, again accompanied by Felix. When we got at the restaurant where Al and I were supposed to meet, he was already there. And I found Al’s face, especially left cheek, was badly swollen under big and thick gauze. Fresh scars also were seen at the both ends of his lips. Nonetheless, his spirit was very high, Trina. Having received the envelope I had brought to him, he said, ‘Thanks, Hiroshi. With this, I can push things forward. This will make it possible for me to take revenge for Ruben upon those who hurt him. ..Sure, with this amount of money.’ Well, Trina, he didn’t open the envelope and count the money in fact. But he had no doubt in his mind that his buy-off fund was already doubled or tripled from the amount I had handed to him before, at least. He went on, ‘I think I can make Castillo come to think that it’s kind of boring to live his life only being very loyal to the Navarro Metals and Martinez, or make him question if it’s really wrong for him to tell Ruben’s uncle -me- an absolute truth that it’s indeed the Navarro Metals that hurt the young boy. By all means, Hiroshi, I’ll pull out from him the truth, that is, what actually happened in the warehouse.’
　　　“In the meantime, continuously enjoying 'crispy pata' (fried pork) and 'adobo' (chicken-pork stew) we had ordered, Felix was just inclining his ear to the conversation between Al and me, with a smile always on his face for some reason. And Al appeared to be pleased giving Felix -the oldest son of his late friend- a chance to hear the story between two adults, which was far from very clean. ..I guessed, Trina, Al must’ve been convinced that Felix could grow exactly as he should by getting used to such a dirty aspect of human life.”
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　　　“Taking a tricycle, Al went back to Zapote,” Takano-san said, “with Felix. Well, the fact is, Trina, I strongly insisted he should take the young man to the town with him as an emergent messenger just in case. And I returned to Manila all by myself.
　　　“In the next morning, a little before eleven o’clock, there was a knock at my room door. Wondering why a made came to clean my room so early, I opened the door anyway. And, to my surprise, standing in the hallway was Al. ..Felix was right behind him.
　　　“From the way Al smiled, I immediately discerned that no bad thing had happened to him the previous night. Or rather, I got convinced that he had obtained satisfactory information from Castillo.
　　　“For a while, Al and Felix interestedly took looks at everything in the room, even at pans and kettles furnished at the kitchenette. And then, Al sat himself on a chair across from mine, at the other side of the small table right beside the window through which he could look down a splendid view of Manila Bay only several blocks away, while Felix quietly sat on the edge of the queen-size bed alongside the wall.”